Plant for washing minerals by means of liquid streams



v Jan. 22,1929. 1,699,962

-A. FRANCE PLA NT FQR WASHING MINERALS BY MEANS OF LIQUID STREAMS Filed Nov. 27, 1926 le. m

l d l m 2 Patented Jan. '22, 1929 UNITED STATES 1,699,962 PATENT OFFICE.

ANTOINE FRANCE, OF-LIEGE, BELGIUM.

PLANT FOB WASHING MINERALS BY MEANS OF LIQUID STREAMS.

Application filed November 27, 1926, Serial N'o. 151,123, and in BelgiumDecember 30, 1925.

The present invention relates to an improvement in mineral washing plant of the kind comprising laundcrs wherein the classification according to specific gravity takes place in a so-called horizontal stream.

In such plant there are usually provided for the discharge of the products of high'spccifie gravity upward stream or other separators, arranged at intervals along the, bottom of the launder and which comprise one or more compartmentsopening out into the bottom of the launder.

\Vhe-n the great width of the laundei' renders uncertain the conditions required for an efiicient operation of the said separators owing to the difiiculty of obtainingtherequired uniformity of the liquid and solid streams which pass through the compartments of the said apparatus, over .the whole width of the latter and of the launder, it becomes useful, instead of multiplying the number of the washing launders in order to reduce their width and subsidiarily that of the separators for the discharge of the products of high specific gravity, to divide the Washing launder by one or more longitudinal vertical partitions, and the improvement according to the present invention consists in adopting a similar arrangement in the sap arators themselves, either by extending the partition or partitions of the launder into the compartment or compartments of the said separators, or in arranging the said parti hens in such a manner that they will constitute together with the other walls of the compartment or con'ipartments gradually narrowing orifices, which may be adjustable, thus providing what may be termed distinct apparatus which are however connected to a .single aperture for the discharge of the products of high specific gravity at the base'of the said apparatus. 1 I

Besides the regularity of the streams which it is possible to'obtain in this manner over the whole surface of the slot in the bottom of' the launder where each separator opens out into the latter, the improvement according to the invention conduces .to a considerable advantage in this sense that-a single aperture for the discharge of the products of high specific gravity treated in a launder of great width makes it possible to obtain anfeffective section for the exit of the downward streams more reduced than if one had to employ multhe 'said compartments and the discharge chamber.

In order that the invention may be readily 'uiulerstood, selected embodiments of the same are, by way of example, illustrated by. the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figs. 1 and 2 areseet-ions taken respectively in the transverse plane and the middle longitudnia-l plane of the launder, showing the application to a multiplecompartment sop rator of the improvement according to the invention in one of its forms;

Figs. 3 and 4 are similar views showing a modification which allows the adjustment of the communication between the compartments of the separator and the discharge chamber of the latter, on each side of the partition provided according to the invention; and

Figs. 5 and 6 are also similar views'illustrating a second modification offering the same possibilities of adjustment of the communication between the compartments and the discharge chamber of the separator as the modification'illustrated by Figs. 3 and 4.

Referring firstly to Figs. 1 and 2, the washing launder a has its width divided by a vertical partition b-sitnated in the middle longitudinal plane of the said launder. In accordance with invention, this partition?) is extendedglownwardly as shown at 0 so as to divide also the compartments (l of a separator e depending from the bottom) of the launder a. The discharge of the products of high specific gravity atthe base of the apparatus a is controlled by means of a slide-valve 9..

Referring now to Figs. 3 and 4;, the launder ais also divided by a partition 'bextending downwardly asshown at a so as to divide also the compartments d of the separator 6, but 1 at its lower edge this extension 0 of the vertical partition I) is f orkedto form twosloping partitions it. Moreover a ortion of the two sloping lateral walls oft e apparatus'e is formed with a thickening z' increasing in a downward direction, and possesses elongated Cir position of the said portion in relation to its fixing bolts m, and consequently to ad ust the size of the space between ,the lower edge of the inclined partitions h and the said thickenings i, i. e. the size of the passage for the products of high specific gravity passing from the compartments (Z towards the base of the apparatus e where their discharge is controlled by means of a slide-valve g.

Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate an arrangement similar to that illustrated by Figs. 3 and 4, but in which the thickeningsiz' according to the last-named figures are replaced by two inclined bafiles n adjusted through the medium of arms 2') to which they are pivotally connected at o and which are rigidly mounted on a shaft rotatablysupported in bearings 8 provided in the transverse walls of the separator 6, so that the bafiles it may be caused to slide in order to adjust the size of the passage for the products of high specific gravity subsisting between the inclined lateral walls of.

the apparatus 6 and the lower or outer-edge of the said bafiles n.

I claim:

1. In plants for washing coal and other minerals comprising in combination a transversely extended inclined launder for classifying the materials according to specific gravity by means of a liquid conveying stream and having bottom slots extending the width thereof, and a separator located under a slot, a discharge control partition subdividing the separator below the-slot, extending longitudinally in the direction of the launder incline and leaving a free passage between its edges and the side walls of the separator.

52. In plants for washing coal and other minerals comprising in combination a. trans versely extended inclined launder for classifying the materials according to specific gravity by means of a liquid conveying stream and having bottom slots extending the width thereof, and a separator located under a slot, a discharge control partition subdividing the separator below the slot and extending longitudinally in the direction of the launder incline, and means for adjusting the distance between the edges of said partition and the side walls of the separator.

3. In plants for washing coal and other minerals comprising in combination a transversely extended inclined launder for classifying the materials according to, specific gravity by means of a liquid conveying stream and having bottom slots extending the width thereof, and a separator located under a slot, a discharge control partition subdividing the separator below the slot and composed of a number of planes extending longitudinally in the direction of the launder incline, and means for adjusting the distance between the edge of some of the said planes and the side walls of the separator.

4. In plants for washing coal and other minerals comprising in combination a transversely extended inclined launder for classifying the materials according to specific gravity by means of a liquid conveying stream and having bottom slots extending the width thereof, and a separator located under a slot, a discharge control partition subdividing the separator below the slot and composed of a number of planes extending longitudinally in the direction of the launder incline and leaving a free passage between the edges of said planes and the side walls of the separator, a battle varying in thickness throughout arranged along a side wall of the separator and one of the faces of which forms the wall of the delivery device,and means for adjusting the position of said battle.

In testimony whereof I signed hereunto my name.

ANTOINE FRANCE. 

